Bunny Slipper Transformed

Last week I showed you my son's old bunny slippers. I made a first attempt at turning one into a pin cushion.

First I looked at the bottom of the slipper.

I measured the width and length then drew an approximate copy to use as a pattern.

I drew my pattern on freezer paper, ironed it to a doubled piece of white fabric and cut out two pieces leaving a generous 1/4" seam allowance. Then I sewed the two pieces together leaving a hole for turning and filled it with aquarium rocks.

I think this 5 lb. bag of aquarium rocks cost between $3 and $4 at Walmart. I did open the bag and lay them out on a towel because they were a bit wet when I got them home. I'm not sure if the water was in the rock bag or from something else I bought that day, but I let them dry a good 24 hours before using them.

After filling the pouch with rocks I hand sewed the opening shut.

This went into the slipper first to give the pin cushion some weight. Next I added some stuffing to fill out the slipper a bit.

Then I made a little pouch for some play sand.

My sand is pink because it is Crayola colored sand. I asked my husband to buy me some play sand last year for some other pin cushions I was making. He came home with a 20 lb. bag of pink play sand! He said this was all Walmart had that day. Play sand is my favorite pin cushion filler because it fits well into any shape, it is cheap and it has some weight to it. I would prefer it to be "sand" color, but this pink stuff has worked out fine.

This pouch will be the part pins are stuck into. To make the pouch I cut two circles and a rectangle from my white fabric. My plan was to make a short cylinder, circles on either end with the rectangle in the middle. First I sewed the short ends of the rectangle together to make a tube. Then I sewed one circle onto one end of the tube. After struggling through this I decided that just sewing the other end shut after filling it with sand would be fine. My sand pouch looks like this.

With the slippers there was a lone baby sock.

I would prefer to use white or gray or blue or orange, one of the colors from the slipper, but this is what I have. I stuffed the sand pouch into the sock and then put it into the slipper.

Add some pins and I'm done!

I have not altered the actual slipper at all so all this can come out. I may try to locate a better color sock at some point, but for now I am using it as is.

Amended Tote Bag Pattern Review

Have you seen my amended post about the Stand and Stow tote bag pattern?

I made another one using the correct fusible product this time and the pattern worked beautifully. Please go here to read my amended review of the pattern. I tried to edit my original post, ended up overwriting it. Then I tried to publish it but Blogger was acting weird so I don't know if anyone actually saw it. I want to make sure that those of you who read my horror story of the putting together the first bag get an honest review of the pattern. Unbeknownst to me, I was using the wrong fusible product which is why I had such trouble. With the correct fusible product the pattern is excellent. So please go read my amended pattern review.

UFO Bust Report and Leprechauns

Finally this week I have UFO progress to report. I worked on two of my projects and finished one. On Monday I basted the House Charity quilt and the Clifford Charity quilt. On Tuesday I quilted both of them. I just used what I call "git 'er done" quilting on both of these. I think most folks would call it meandering.

The house quilt is finished!

The Clifford quilt still needs to have the binding sewn to the back and I'll finish that this soon.

I used my new Supreme Slider to quilt these. I love it! It is more flexible and less flimsy than the Original Slider. It also stays in place with no tape! I'm not sure exactly how it stays put so well, but it just clings to the machine and table, kind of  like one of those vinyl window clings. I also used the Bobbin Genies for the first time. They must do something because I had to adjust the machine tension from my usual free-motion quilting settings. And I quilted both of these with one of the spools of Signature variegated thread I bought recently. I had no problems at all with this thread but it is very linty. I'll spare you the sight of my filthy bobbin housing after quilting two baby size quilts with this thread, but I had no problems with breakage or skipped stitches. So thumbs up for all of these products.

With St. Patrick's Day coming up, my son is trying to catch a leprechaun. Here is the outside of his trap.

There is a gold rope that leads to a hole on the left of the box. You will probably need to click on the photo to enlarge it be able to see the rope. The bricks are suppose to help the leprechauns get in, but prevent them from escaping once inside. Here is what the inside of the trap looks like.

Inside there is plate of food for the trapped leprechauns. Apparently leprechauns like candy cane. There is a small bottle of water for them to drink (above left of the plate). The scrap of fabric is a towel/blanket. Below the towel/blanket is a cup of water with a K-nex ladder and a bar of soap - so the leprechauns can take a bath.

He leaves some fake gold coins in the trap as bait. So far he hasn't caught one, but last night one of them lost his hat.

The leprechauns usually leave a small amount of candy in exchange for the "gold" coins.

New Tote Bag Pattern, Amended Review

I received a tote bag pattern for Christmas.

The Stand 'n Stow pattern from Atkinson Designs. I was very excited because I have their Cash and Carry pattern too that is excellent. Unfortunately, I can't give the Stand 'n Stow pattern an "excellent" rating.  I must change my review after making a second bag with the correct fusible product. The Stand 'n Stow pattern is also excellent.

So here's what happened. I went to my LQS with the pattern and asked if they had the fusible product called for in the pattern. They did not have any but said they would order it for me. A week or so later they called and said the fusible product I ordered was in. So I went in and bought some. It was just like fusible fleece though. I asked if they were sure this was what I ordered because it didn't seem right, but they assured me it was. I made the bag with it and had a terrible experience because it was not the correct product. Earlier this week I got another call from my LQS telling me that the fusible product I ordered was in. I said "Hmmm.... I got a call a couple weeks ago that it was in and bought some. Is this different?" She said yes, that they had originally ordered the wrong product but didn't realize it until later. They reordered and this new stuff is definitely what the pattern calls for. So I went and bought some yesterday and made another bag. Boy, what a difference the correct stuff makes.

The flimsy stuff on the left in the photo is the stuff I used in my first bag. It is really just fusible fleece. The stuff on the right in the photo is the correct product and works wonderfully.

With the pattern you can make three different size bags - small (7 3/4" by 7 3/4" by 4 1/2"d), medium (12" by 12" by 7 1/2"d) and large (14" by 13" by 9 1/2"d). So far so good, I love the three size options. I made the medium size bag. It is a good grocery tote size. I thought the fact that it can stand up by itself would help the baggers so that won't be so grumpy when they see me coming with all my cloth bags.

The instructions were well written and easy to follow, as I expected from the Cash and Carry pattern.

However, the trouble starts with the order of some of the steps. For me, it was simply impossible to complete the bag as instructed. My problem was trying to shove the last four bits of fusible fleece into the sewn channels. Now matter how hard I tried, even following the tips given in the pattern that worked for other sections, these pieces would not go all the way into the channels and lay flat. I tried for thirty minutes Tuesday evening to do this step. After thirty minutes I gave up trying to properly place just one of the four pieces in this step. Wednesday afternoon I tried for another fifteen minutes and finally decided to just rip out the last step so that I could slide in the fusible fleece and then redo the step I ripped out. So basically, I switched the order of two steps. After that I was able to complete the bag fairly easily.

Ignore all this crossed out bit. With the correct fusible product the pieces slide easily into the channels. I made my second bag in just a little over an hour.

Here is my completed bag, using the correct fusible product.

For this second one I opted to just use the lining fabric for the handles instead of using both fabrics for the handles. I like this look better of just using the lining fabric for handles but I constructed them just like the pattern said even though I was using just one fabric.

So I apologize to Terry Atkinson for my original post about the Stand 'n Stow pattern. I have removed that post. The pattern is excellent and so is the bag!

Bunny Slippers

When our son was born someone gave us the book "Goodnight Moon" along with the bunny slippers. He wore them proudly and loved his bunny slippers. At one time I could recite the book from memory because I read it so many times.

During my last purge of baby/kid clothes I found these slippers. I set them aside, in a safe place, because I want to make pin cushions out of them. In December I looked for them to start the project, but couldn't find the "safe place" I put them. Well ... I found them last week. I have collected all the materials I will need. Now I just have to do it.

Want to make some 9-patch blocks for a good cause?

Debra, from Debra's Design Studio, is in need of some nine patch blocks for an auction quilt to benefit the American Cancer Society.

She has specific color and size requirements so please go over to her post and read the requirements.

Below is a photo from her blog of her plan for the quilt.

She says that she may add some applique to this, but this is the piecing plan. If you can help her out, I know she will appreciate it. She needs something like 150 to 200 3 1/2" nine patches for this! It doesn't require much fabric to make a 3 1/2" nine patch and would not cost very much to mail them to her. All details can be found HERE.

Wonky Drunkards Path Tutorial

As promised yesterday, here is the tutorial for how I made my drunkard path blocks used in my Circle Play quilt.

First cut some squares. I cut 5" squares.

Cut your squares at least an inch larger than you want to end up with. You will need two squares per block. I cut 8 squares, 4 neutral and 4 colored, and this yields 8 drunkard path blocks.

Second, stack your squares.

They need to all be right side up or wrong side up. I prefer to do right side up because that way the curve you cut is the curve you end up with. If they are stacked wrong side up, you will get the reverse of your cut curve.

Third, be really brave and cut a curve!

I do this free hand. The fabrics may shift a bit, especially if you cut lots of layers like I did. I cut 8 squares at once. As long as you get a smooth curve, don't worry about any shifting. You will square things up later.

Fourth, match up some pairs.

For this I just put them in pairs, but you can mix them up more for a scrappier look.

Fifth, pick up two pieces and prepare to sew them together.

I like to lay the quarter circle piece on top of the other piece. I just find it easiest to sew them together this way. Try it both ways to see what works best for you. Also, don't worry about putting these point to point at the starting point of your seam. The quarter circle piece will end up being a little shorter than the other piece. So you may want to shift the quarter circle piece down a bit. Again, you are going to have to square these up later so just try different things to see what works best for you.

Sixth, sew your pieces together.

You only need to worry about the part an inch or less from the needle. I place my left hand on the top piece and my right hand on the bottom piece, then sew a few stitches and stop with the needle down. Move your hands together and the raw edges will align for the next inch or so. Sew this part. Stop. Realign. Sew. Repeat. Just go slowly, stopping every inch or so to readjust your pieces. Pinning isn't necessary. These are never going to line up when you put the blocks together. If you want your pieces to line up properly you would be much better off using templates and pinning. This is not a technique for the perfectionist!

Once you have all your pieces sewn you will have blocks that should look like this.

Notice how the quarter circle pieces are smaller. The curved seam allowance causes this.

Now if you want to, you can cut another curve.

I chose to do this for only two of my pairs. I just stacked my pairs, right side up, and free hand cut another curve.

Sew this new curve just as before.

This gives you the inset curved arc like I did on my Circle Play quilt.

Time to square up your blocks.

I chose to cut all my blocks the same size. I just measured each block to figure out that 4" squares was the largest square I could cut from all of the blocks.

Then play with arrangements of your blocks.

When you are happy with them, sew them together as four patches.

And there you have it. Wonky Drunkards Path blocks and Curved Arc blocks. Have fun with them! If you make any please send me a picture or a link to your blog where you posted about them.